Family Vacation

Lake Hartwell, Georgia

John had a lot of fun skiing and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of it...

Looking Good...

A concerned face and...........

the wipeout!!

Our yearly family vacation was so much fun we all enjoyed the visiting and of course the swimming, skiing and tubing. Hunter was infatuated with the boat. Every time a boat would speed past on the lake he would yell "look a boat...look...look!!!" He wanted to be just like Papa following him everywhere.

Thanks Papa and Granny Ann for all the fun we had!!

Kylie turns 4!

Kylie's Birthday is July 28th...and in Houston that translates to "hot as heck" nonetheless we had an outside birthday complete with BBQ hot dogs watermelon and a princess jumping castle. I was so overwhelmed with planning a party for more than just our immediate family that I skimped on the cake which is usually my favorite part of the kids birthday. She still thought it was beautiful though and she loved having the whole cake to herself.

The jumping castle was a big hit...

The Birthday Princess...

Friends at the party...

The most important part besides the cake...PRESENTS!!!

Someday when she's a teenager she will probably yell at me for letting her ride her bike in a tutu but I thought it was just way too cute!

We had a great time...Thank you everyone for all the presents.

All American Kids

I thought it would be fun to sit outside with the kids and watch the fireworks. Boy was I wrong. Some neighbors were lighting fireworks in Candace's cul-de-sac and I guess they were way to close for comfort. Hunter and Kylie both started crying and shaking, Kylie ran inside the house and slammed the door and Hunter threw up all over the driveway and then had quite a stinky diaper if you get my drift...(my poor sensitive boy). It was actually kind of funny but I did feel bad that my kids were scared to death. We tried to explain that the fireworks were pretty and Hunter cried..."FIRE--YERKS pretty???" but I don't think he bought it at all. So I loaded them up in the car and they made me feel like I was driving through a war zone trying to save my children. Hunter screaming "FIRE--YERKS FIRE--YERKS!!!" and Kylie asking "Mommy are the fireworks going to burn our car?" This picture of Hunter was taken earlier that morning but I thought it summed up our evening of "FIRE--YERKS"





Kylie loves having a sister (especially thanks to Grammy and the matching shirts)...and Emma doesn't know it yet but I think she does too.

100% All American grown babies

(sorry but I think she's just sooo cute bear with me...)



Hope y'all had a great 4th!!!

Ode to Summer Time

Ahh yes the "EMMA HAWK"
(no matter what I do this is the what I get...)

We spend every day either at Grammy's pool or the "Big Pool" When we ask who wants to go to the pool Hunter raises up both hands and says "MEEE" and then runs around looking for his swimming "SOUP"
(that's swimming suit for those of y'all who don't speak Hunterese.)

He loves his little sister and sometimes his hugs can be a little overwhelming...but you've got to love those puppy eyes.
(this is the way he get's away with stuff...who can resist those eyes!!)

And who can resist these eyes...
(man I've gotta watch out or they'll walk all over me with these cute eyes)

All this fun we've been having this summer sure wears Emma out...

Are those guilty faces or what??
We didn't do it Mom honest...................

Summer time sure has been fun around here!

Emma's Blessing

So this post is supposed to be before Hunter's birthday but I messed up...

Emma was blessed by her Daddy on June 3rd. Her Grandma and Grandpa Carey flew in from California to be there and her Grammy Clark and Aunt Ashley, Uncle Mike and cousin Lincoln were there too. It was so nice to have all the family together.

Hunter turns 2!!

Hunter waiting for his birthday cake...

DrumRoll Please...(mommy spent hours on this so let's get excited!)

And all he could say was...

VROOMM...VROOOMM
(it was good enough for me)

It was definitely a car themed birthday...

and he loved every bit of it...

Hunter and his cousin Lincoln both loved the car that does flips...I would have to call it a success.

"We love you Daddy you're the greatest!"

Here are some pix's for y'all to enjoy!

Happy Father's Day to Everyone!!

We went to the park the other day and Kylie experienced her first game of "Tag" with a bunch of kids who were probably 8 years old or so. She was having fun until she got tagged "IT" and then she couldn't run nearly fast enough to catch the older kids. At one point she does what you see in the picture and says "I GOTTA GET MORE INJURY"...it took me a minute until John and I both laughed and said you mean more ENERGY??

Here's our tribute to Brad Paisley's new song "I'm still a guy"

" These days there’s dudes gettin' facials
Manicured, waxed, and botoxed
But with deep spray on tans and creamy lotioney hands
You can’t grip a tackle box
Yeah, with all of these men linin' up to get neutered
It’s hip now to be feminized
But, I don’t highlight my hair
I’ve still got a pair
Yeah, honey I’m still a guy

Oh, my eyebrows ain’t plucked
Theres a gun in my truck
Oh Thank God, I’m still a guy"
Hunter is obsessed with his boots. He brought them to me the other day and demanded that I put them on him. I couldn't resist the photo op.

It made me think that maybe we might be sliding down the path of "Texas Redneck" since I let my baby run around in a diaper and boots and think it's cute...

Baby Emma

I know it's a month late but we would like to announce the birth of Emma Taylor.

She entered this world by force on May 6, 2008...you see mom was 3 days past due and could not stand to be pregnant a minute longer so I was induced at 10:00am on May 6th and she entered this world at 3:21. Everything went wonderful thanks to my good friend "epidural". Although when the anesthesiologist came in the nurse told John he had to leave because they were worried he would faint but John told them he'd done this twice before no prob...so as he's working on me all of a sudden I feel this horrible pain and I told them it hurt and then I passed out cold...needless to say I was deeply grateful that they hadn't kicked John out because he caught me from falling head first off the bed and onto the floor!! Everything else was great.

Emma was 7lbs 5oz and 20 inches long. She is perfect and healthy...so take that triple screen test!! (We were told we had a 1/271 chance she could have Downs syndrome.) I thank my Heavenly Father for answering many prayers and blessings on her behalf.

I was going to say that she has been an all night sleeper since day one but the last week threw that record out the window as she hit a growth spurt and has been wanting to eat every three hours in the middle of the night. I sure got spoiled.

Hunter and Kylie seem to be pretty happy to have the baby here. Hunter does get jealous when I feed her and stands by me whining "hold you, hold you" otherwise when ever he sees her he gets really excited and starts screaming "baabbb--ee baabbb-ee". Kylie has taken to nursing her baby dolls and acting like the mommy, it's pretty cute.

That's all for now more pictures later!!

Tomato or not Tomato??

We took the kids to the park last night and well everyone made it to the park before mom so here I come waddling along....

Kylie says to John "Mommy's coming"
John says "Yeah she's waddling over here huh?"
Kylie says "Yeah Daddy she looks like a TOMATO!"

So for all of you critics out there here's a little comparison to see if you agree with Kylie!

(I guess there's a lot worse things she could think I looked like!)

We are finally "Cool"

After many excuses and much stalling on my part, I finally put together a blog. I think I just might be one of the last people on earth to get it together but what can I say I was a working mom of two kids and well quite frankly didn't have the time. Of course with baby numero 3 about to show up any day now I have no idea how I think I'm going to somehow have MORE time than I did before. Who knows? I guess you can blame it on all the "nesting" hormones that have been running rampant around here...yes, I've been cleaning like mad and sorting through
Kylie's old baby clothes. I have been however able to resist the incredible urge to pull up all the weeds in the front yard and plant some flowers...I can't promise how much longer that will last. We are on the 4 week countdown around here. When I asked John the other night if he thought I'd be early or not he said nope I would be late...He didn't win very many good husband points with that one trust me. Well enough about me what everyone really wants to read about are the kido's.

Kylie asks me everyone morning if her baby Emma is "done" yet. She is also fascinated with "getting bigger" she asks me if she's getting bigger, if my belly is getting bigger, if Emma is getting bigger...I feel like we had all better get bigger around here or there's going to be a pretty upset 3 1/2 year old.

Hunter has decided he is a free man. He up and decided one day that he was not going to stay in his crib and nothing has been able to hold him back sense (except mom taking the door handle off and switching the lock to the outside...yes it had to be done if anyone ever wanted to sleep again!). He is quite the sweet boy, he loves to cuddle with me and say "I la you" it's those moments that keep me going when I find all the wipes all over the floor or him splashing in the toilet bowl. For any of you who have read the fabulous book "I'll love you forever" the picture of the two year old in the bathroom who flushed the watch down the toilet...well I can relate.

John is in his last 4 weeks of his accounting internship with UHY. He is loving his office job although not so much the 45 min commute. It's been great so far all though we've gone for days with out seeing each other because of busy season and late hours. Our family has been grateful for the experience though.

Well that's all for now because I'm dying to see how this thing looks.